Page 134 of Filthy Liar

“That’s a first. Are you sick?”

“Go back to sleep,” I chuckled, lightly nipping her shoulder. She turned and draped a leg over my waist, peering up at me.

“Did you sleep?”

“Yeah, don’t think I woke up once.” Her hand lifted to my face, and I caught her wrist when I saw the ink on her inner forearm. “Raven Pierce, did you get a tattoo?”

“Lexi Hendricks is opening a studio on the edge of Ashburn and Blackwater. I visited her with Rory yesterday, and she offered to give me one so I could be her first client,” she replied softly, her eyes on the tattoo.

I hadn’t even noticed it last night, but I’d been so damn tired that I was surprised I even got my dick up, let alone kept my damn eyes open. I didn’t even remember finishing and going to sleep.

“It looks good,” I smiled, running my thumb along the skin just below it. “Make sure you look after it properly.”

“I will. You really like it?”

“It’s the only other guy’s name you could ever put on your body that I wouldn’t turn murderous over,” I grinned, leaning down to kiss her. “Do me a favor? Stay here and snuggle Zav while I shower.”

That made her frown, her eyes flicking over her shoulder to glance at him. “Is he okay? I know he was trying to lose himself in me last night.”

“Just the past haunting him. I think we all know what that’s like,” I answered, giving her another kiss before pulling away. “Stay with him for me?”

She nodded, turning over to curl into Zavier so I could slip out to shower without worrying about him.

They were awake by the time I was ready for the day, both of them sitting at the kitchen counter with coffee in hand. Zavier slid a coffee my way, and I sat on the bar stool beside him and patted his shoulder.

“Thanks. You good today?”

He grimaced but nodded, nursing his cup in both hands. “Restless sleep but I feel better. Sorry, I was supposed to be helping you with your shit.”

Raven’s head swiveled to look at me with a frown. “What shit?”

I downed a mouthful of the hot coffee, placing it back on the counter before replying.

“I don’t remember a lot, I think exhaustion got to me.”

“You were practically hallucinating and delirious,” Zavier deadpanned, worry crossing Raven’s face.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I argued, and he snorted his disagreement.

“You didn’t eat all day, wouldn’t take your eyes off the screens, and you almost punched Stone when he told you to go home. You were only functioning out of muscle memory while practically asleep on your feet.”

“We’ll find them, Ander,” Raven said firmly, reaching out to take my hand and giving it a squeeze.

The lump in my throat was hard to swallow around, but I managed and gave her a small smile. “We will.”

I was losing my fucking mind at this point, just like Stefano had hoped for.

I finished my coffee and was just pulling my phone out to text Cruz for updates when it buzzed with a message, my heart beat picking up the pace instantly when I saw it was an unknown number.

A bad feeling started in my gut, and I clicked on the message to open it, almost knocking my stool over as I stood up abruptly the second the video started playing.

“Ander?” Raven asked slowly, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.

Dante was tied to a chair, his head hanging low as blood soaked his shirt. He would've looked dead if it wasn’t for his shoulders rising a fraction with each breath.

My teeth ground together as one of Stefano’s men approached and punched him in the side of the face, my brother barely reacting.

How long had this been happening for? Was it just now to get my attention? Or had he been beaten from the day he left Wet Dreams?

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